How to Buy and Flip Off Grid Homes in Ontario

Six Steps to Buying and Selling an Off Grid Home for a Profit

#1. Research potential homes to buy.

You are looking for homes that have the following features:

• No electricity, not attached to Ontario's electrical grid.
• No water/sewage or self-sufficient water/sewage.
• Relative easy to repair / beautify.
• Cheap, but will be desirable once you've fixed everything and turned it into an off grid marvel.
• The real estate prices in the region should be on the upswing.

#2. Determine your costs and time requirements.

• Calculate how much time and money will be needed to add a solar array/wind turbine and battery system.
• Calculate how much time and money will be needed to add an off grid septic system and to provide water, water filtration and a water heating system.
• Calculate how much time and money will be needed to make any necessary repairs and to beautify the property to bring in potential buyers. This might include buying flowers, plants, repairing the driveway, any number of things.
• Calculate how much time and money will be needed to add various features that would increase the value of the property. eg. Adding an outdoor hot tub, a pool, a greenhouse or other features.

#3. Add up all costs and time requirements and add 30%.

Expect costs to end up being more than you expect. Same goes with time requirements.

For example you might be buying a place that you think requires $40,000 worth of costs to increase its Off Grid value, plus a 100 days of labour to make all the necessary changes. But that is only because you are low-balling everything. You are thinking that is the minimum amount of money and time you need.

Instead you probably need at least $52,000 and 130 days of labour to complete the tasks.

You also need to determine how much is your time worth. Is your labour worth $20 per hour? If so then 130 days of labour, at 8 hours per day is 1,040 hours. So your time should be worth at least $20,800.

Thus if you spend $52,000 improving the property and $20,800 worth of your time, your end goal is to sell the property for at least $72,800 more than whatever you paid for it.

So if you paid $200,000 for the property your goal should be to sell it for $273,000 or more.

If you paid $10,000 for the property, you want to be selling it for $83,000 or more.

#4. Determine if Buying a particular property is worth the financial risk.

Some properties might be worth the risk, others might require a lot more time and money to make a sale. Ideally you want to buy a property, improve it dramatically, and then sell it quickly for a profit.

Then you take the money you made and start planning your next purchase. Another off grid property that is down on its luck that you can improve and then sell for a profit.

Always Remember the Following Principle: Sell for a profit.

If a particular property seems too risky, unlikely to be sold for a profit for the amount of work required, then you should consider all your options and choose a different property.

#5. Buy the property which offers the most potential for a quick profit with the least financial risk.

Then all you need to do is accomplish your goals and stay within budget in terms of time requirements and the amount of money spent on materials.

#6. Get Ready to Sell.

During the whole process your end goal is to sell the property, so every step along the way should be geared towards that goal.

One way to improve your chances would be to make a series of YouTube videos about the process of repairing the property. Lots of photography is good too, which you then promote on a website.

When it eventually comes time to sell you might already have several potential buyers interested in the property and thus not have to advertise much via the local real estate brokers. Quality photographs and videos can do a lot to draw in potential buyers, especially buyers who are specifically looking for an off grid home which doesn't require any additional work and they just need to move in.

Then you count your profits and go back to step #1. Repeat the process with the added knowledge of what worked, what didn't work, and what helped to make the most profit.

Some house flippers are only looking to do some gardening, landscaping, swap out the old windows, and maybe a new paint job before they flip a house. But you don't have to be limited by such narrowly focused goals. A lot more profit can be made if you put in the extra effort.

New solar panels, a wind turbine, a battery system, a better water and septic system - giving the new buyers more electricity and more access to clean water is valuable to the tech savvy buyers of today who like their hot showers.

New windows, a paint job and some gardening/landscaping.